SOME OF THE ROMAN 
REMAINS IN ENGLAND 



BY 

SAMUEL SWETT GREEN 



SOME OF THE ROMAN 
REMAINS IN ENGLAND 



BY 
SAMUEL SWETT GREEN 



Rkad before the American Antiquarian Society, at its Annual 
Meeting in Worcester, October 24, 1906. 



WITH THE RESPECTS gf 

gffe FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY 

WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, 
Where the substance of this paper was twice given as a lecture. 



WORCESTER, MASS. 

THE DAVIS PRESS 

1907 



T- ' /_ 



16 Ap'OT 



SOME OF THE E0MA:N^ REMAPS i:?^ 

e:n^glaot3. 

BY SAMUEL SWETT GREEN, 



For several years I have followed with great interest 
the excavations which have been made in towns of the 
Roman period in English history. In 1902 I visited Uri- 
conium, or Viriconium as many investigators believe it 
should be called. It is situated near the hillWrekin and 
is reached from Shrewsbury, in the interesting museum of 
which place are to be seen the objects found in the excava- 
tions. A small town named Wroxeter occupies an incon- 
siderable portion of the site of the old Roman enclosure. 

In 1903, I had an opportunity of watching the trenching 
which is still going on at Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester, 
in Hampshire,) and again during the past summer; both 
times under the valuable guidance of Mr. Mill Stephenson, 
an accomplished expert. During my recent visit I was 
so fortunate as to meet at the ruins, and have a long 
and most profitable conversation with, Mr. George Edward 
Fox, who is, I understand, the leading authority in England 
in regard to architectural remains of Roman Britain. A 
minute record of the discoveries at Silchester appears in 
the successive volumes of Archaeologia, the official organ 
of the Society of Antiquaries under whose auspices the 
excavations there have been made in recent years. Be- 
sides visiting Pevensey (supposed to have been the ill- 
fated Anderida), Richborough (the Roman landing-place, 
Rutupise) and a Roman villa at Chedworth, as well as other 
spots rendered memorable by the presence of the Romans, 
the past summer and in previous years, I took occasion 
early in August to examine on the ground the excavations 
now being made at Caerwent, in Monmouthshire, on the 
site of the old Roman walled town of Venta Silurum and 
to visit the Roman wall in Northumbria and Cumberland. 



I propose in this paper to write briefly about a 
few of the other more conspicuous and interesting 
sites of Roman remains and then describe more at 
length, but in a very limited way, the results of excava- 
tions at Silchester. 



DATES. 



Allow me at the start to refresh your memories by giving 
you a few important dates. Julius Caesar, as you remember, 
first invaded Britain in 55 and again in 54, B. C. As 
you know, he made no permanent settlement. That was 
made by the Emperor Claudius, who sent his general, 
Aulus Plautius to Britain, A. D. 43. That officer, having 
achieved considerable success, went into camp on the site, 
it has been conjectured, of the present, but then non- 
existent, city of London and sent for Claudius to come 
to complete the victory. 

Claudius came, and during a stay of sixteen days, or so, 
in Britain captured Camulodmium (Colchester) the strong- 
hold of his opponent. Having returned to Rome, Aulus 
Plautius continued the conquest with the result of gaining 
for the Empire the Southern and Western portions of 
Britain, from the Thames to the Severn. He seems to 
have fixed the Romans "permanently at Colchester and 
Gloucester (Glevum), which places from that date became 
two very important stations."^ 

During the reign of Nero, A, D. 60 or 61, came the for- 
midable revolt of Boadicea (Boudicca, according to Thomas 
Hodgkin, who has ably described the Roman period of 
history in England in a volume bearing the date of the 
present year.) The year 78 is memorable; for it was in 
that year that Cnseius JuHus Agricola was sent to Britain 
by Vespasian as legatus. He was the father-in-law of 
the historian, Tacitus and "the most celebrated and prob- 
ably the greatest of the governors of Britain."^ Under 
him the Roman arms made great progress. 



^ Scarth's Roman Britain, p. 39. For full titles of books quoted, see list of books 
at the end of the paper. 

* Hodgkin. History of England, p. 46. 



In about A. D. 120 the wall between the Tyne and the 
Solway was built and about 140 the one between the Firths 
of Forth and Clyde. 

The Emperor Septimius Severus set forth from Rome 
in 208 to bring the affairs of the province of Britain into 
order, and died, it will be remembered, at York 
(Eboracum) in 210. The usurper Constantine withdrew 
the Roman legions, says Hodgkin, from Britain to Gaul 
in the year 407. 

THE ROMAN WALL. 

In speaking of the two barriers constructed by the Romans 
in Britain, Mr. H. M. Scarth writes that "after remaining 
for centuries neglected, and their works serving as quarries 
for material, or harbours for robbers in the times of border 
warfare, they have, in more recent times, attracted the 
attention they deserve."^ The lower of these barriers is 
usually known as The Roman Wall and has been exhaus- 
tively described in an interesting and elaborate monograph 
by Rev. J. CoUingwood Bruce, the third edition of whose 
work was published in 1867. "The great fortification," 
he writes, "which was intended to act not only as a fence 
against a northern enemy, but to be used as the basis of 
operation against a foe on either side of it, consists of 
three parts: I. A Stone Wall, strengthened by a ditch 
on the northern side. II. An Earth Wall or Vallum, to 
the south of the stone wall. III. Stations, Castles, Watch- 
towers, and Roads, for the accommodation of the soldiery 
who manned the Wall, and for the transmission of mihtary 
stores. These lie, for the most part, between the stone 
wall aivl the earthen rampart.""* The stone wall extends 
from Wallsend (Segiodunum) on the north side of the 
Tyne to Bowness on the north side of the Solway Firth, 
a distance of seventy-three and a half English miles. 
The earth wall falls short of this distance by about three 
miles at each end, not extending beyond Newcastle on 
the east and terminating at Dykesfield on the west. 



» Page 79. 

* Pages 49 and 50. 



6 

The mums and the vallum both pursue a straightforward 
course. The former, says Mr. Bruce, "shooting over the 
country, in its onward course, only swerves from a straight 
line to take in its route the boldest elevations. So far 
from declining a hill, it uniformly selects one."^ 

Beda, (A. D. 671 to 735,) "whose cherished home was 
the monastery of Jarrow, anciently a part of the parish of 
Wallsend, is the earhest author who gives "^ the dimensions 
of the stone wall. He speaks of it as twelve feet in height. 
"In all probabihty" writes Mr. Bruce, "the Wall would 
be surmounted by a battlement of not less than four feet 
in height, and as this part of the structure would be the 
first to fall into decay, Beda's calculation was probably 
irrespective of it. This, however, only gives us a total 
elevation of sixteen feet. Unless we reject the evidence 
of Ridley" (speaking of the wall as it stood about the year, 
1572) "and Erdeswick," (who visited the wall in 1574) 
"we must admit even after making due allowance for 
error and exaggeration, that the Wall, when in its integrity, 
was eighteen or nineteen feet high. This elevation would 
be in keeping with its breadth. The thickness of the Wall 
varies considerably. In some places it is six feet, in others 
nine feet and a half. Probably the prevailing width is eight 
feet, the measurement given by Beda . . . Through- 
out the whole of its length the Wall was accompanied on 
its northern margin by a broad and deep Fosse. . 
Where the ditch traverses a flat or exposed country, a por- 
tion of the materials taken out of it has been frequently 
thrown upon its northern margin, so as to present to the 
enemy an additional rampart. In those portions, on the 
other hand, where its assistance could be of no avail, as 
along the edge of a cliff, the fosse does not appear."^ 

The Vallum, or Earth Wall, which hes uniformly to the 
south of the stone wall, "consists of three ramparts and 
a fosse. One of these ramparts is placed close upon the 
southern edge of the ditch; the two others, of larger dimen- 
sions, stand one to the north and the other to the south of 

« Page 51. 
• Page 52. 
' Pages 54 and 55. 



it, at the distance of about twenty-four feet 

A careful examination of the country over which the ^^''all 
runs, almost necessarily leads to the conclusion that whilst 
the Wall undertook the harder duty of warding off the 
openly hostile tribes of Caledonia, the Vallum was intended 
as a protection from sudden surprise from the south. The 
natives of the country on the south side of the Wall, though 
conquered, were not to be depended upon."^ 

"The third, and perhaps the most important, part of 
the barrier line consisted of the structures that were formed 
for the accommodation of the soldiery, and for the ready 
transmission of troops and stores."^ "At distances along 
the line which average nearly four miles, Stationary Camps 
were erected. "^^ These were "miUtary cities, adapted to 
the residence of the chief who commanded the district, 
and providing secure lodgment for the powerful body of 
soldiery he had under him. Here the commandant held 
his court; hence issued decrees which none might gainsay. 
Here Roman arts, literature, and luxury struggled for 
existence, whilst all around was ignorance and barbarism. "^^ 
"All the stations have, on their erection, been provided, 
after the usual method of Roman castrametation, with at 
least four gateways."^ 

The best preserved station along the line of the wall is 
at Housesteads, the ancient Borcovicus, 'about the centre 
of the barrier. The enclosure contains five acres or more. 
I visited that station during the past summer and found 
its ruins very interesting and instructive. A good way 
of reaching it is to go to Haydon Bridge, a station on a 
railway running between Carlisle and Newcastle. 

"The list of troops employed to garrison the Wall reveals 
some of the peculiar features of Roman policy."^? A^Tiilst 
the "auxiliary troops were exposed to the first assault 
of the foe, the sixth legion, composed it is thought chiefly 
of native Italians, reposed in comparative security at 

• Pages 56-57 and 59. 

» Page 59. 
" Page 60 
i» Page 60. 
" Page 61. 
" Page 70. 



8 

York."^^ "Troops belonging to the same nation were 
never placed in contiguous stations. "^^ "Making every 
allowance for the occasional reduction of numbers below the 
proper standard, it may be presumed that the garrison 
of the Wall usually consisted of from ten to fifteen thousand 
men."^^ 

"In addition to the stations, Castella or Mile-Castles 
were provided for the use of the troops which garrisoned 
the Wall. They derive their modern name from the cir- 
cumstance of their being usually placed at the distance 
of a Roman mile from each other. . . . The chief 
object of the castella evidently being to protect the party 
of soldiers who guarded for the day the contiguous mile of 
wall from any sudden surprise, the erection of any barracks 
or huts, needed for their temporary shelter, may have been 
left to their own diligence and discretion. Between the 
mile-castles, four subsidiary buildings, generally denomi- 
nated Turrets or Watch-towers were placed. They were 
little more than stone sentry-boxes."^^ 

"The advance of Roman armies, and the formation of 
roads, were uniformly contemporaneous. The barrier there- 
fore had its Mihtary Way."^^ In the rebeUion of 1745, 
the government suffered great inconvenience from the 
fact that only portions of the way could be used and those 
only by employing pack horses. After the suppression 
of the outbreak, it "turned its attention to the necessity 
of having a good road across the .Isthmus, and that which 
is now known in the country as the Military Road was con- 
structed at the public expense. "^^ The method of examin- 
ing such portions of the Wall as remain is to pass along 
this road. A few weeks before I traversed a stretch of it 
in a carriage, members of the Cumberland and Westmore- 
land Antiquarian and Archaeological Society and of the 
Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle on Tyne, walked along the 
road, stopping at places of interest and sleeping in inns near 

" Page 70. 

^8 Page 71. 

« Page 72. 

" Pages 72 and 74. 

" Page 75. 

w Ibid. 



their route. They took, it was said, about a week in mak- 
ing the excursion. 

"The Roman Military Way accompanies the Wall through- 
out its entire course, and uniformly lies between the Murus 
and the Vallum. It is usually about seventeen feet wide, 
and is composed of rubble so arranged as to present a rounded 
surface, elevated in the centre a foot or eighteen inches 
above the adjoining ground. "^'^ "The Wall is faced on both 
sides of it with carefully-squared blocks of freestone. The 
interior is filled with 'rubble,' of any description, firmly 
imbedded in mortar. The facing stones are usually eight 
of nine inches thick, and ten or eleven broad; the length of 
them exceeds their other dimensions, amounting usually 
to fifteen and occasionally to twenty inches and more. 
The face of the stone is cut transversely to the lines of 
stratification, so as to avoid exfoliation by the action of 
the weather. The stone is made to taper off towards its 
inner extremity, so as the more readily to adapt itself to 
the bed of gravelly mortar intended for it. In consequence 
of the depth to which the stones were set into the Wall, 
the necessity of rows of binding tiles, which form so char- 
acteristic a feature of Roman masonry in the south of 
England, is done away with. There does not appear to 
have been a single tile used in any part of the Wall. On 
one or two occasions, however, as for example at the House- 
steads mile-castle, a single row of stone flags has been used, 
apparently with the same view that tiles were."^^ 

"The strength of the Wall has in a large measure depended 
upon the nature of the mortar made use of."^ Such as 
was used "sets in a few hours and soon becomes as hard 
as stone. "^^ 

"But little care was expended in preparing the founda- 
tion" of the Wall. "The structure was sufficiently broad 



»» Pages 75 and 76. 

»» Pages 81 and 83. 

»» Page 83. 

** Ibid. The mortar "has evidently been similar to the grout and concrete 
used by the railway engineers of the present day. The lime has been ground when 
in an unslacked state, and then carefully mixed with sand, gravel, and stone 
chippings. When about to be used the mass has been freely naixed with water." 
Bruce, p. 83. 



10 

and solid to stand by its own tenacity. For the most 
part no excavation seems to have been made . 
The lowest stones of the foundation were usually broad 
flags, three or four inches in thickness, and these in many 
places are laid upon a bed of well-puddled clay. Upon 
these flat stones, was laid the first course of facing stones, 
which were usually the largest stones used in the structure. 
In the higher courses the facing stones are uniformly of 
freestone; but in the ground course a 'whin-stone' is occa- 
sionally introduced. The flagstones of the foundation 
usually project from one to five inches beyond the first 
course of facing stones, and those again usually stand out 
an inch or two beyond the second course, after which the 
wall is taken straight up. One of two com-ses of facing- 
stones having been placed in their beds and carefully 
pointed, a mass of mortar in a very fluid state was 
poured into the interior of the Wall, and stones of 
any kind and shape that were of a convenient size 
were 'puddled' in amongst it."^ "Such is the 
strength of the Wall that if the meddling hand of 
man had been withheld from it, it might have stood 
to the present hour in almost all its original in- 
tegrity."^ 

Numerous objects of interest have been found in the 
excavations about the Wall and many of them may be 
seen at Newcastle and in the collection of the Duke of 
Northumberland, at Alnwick Castle. 

A survey of the Wall was made under the auspices of a 
late Duke of Northumberland. There have been difi"er- 
ences of opinion as to who the builder of the Wall was, but 
after reading the evidence coflected by Mr. Bruce, and 
giving weight to other considerations, I am ready to indorse 
the opinion which is now commonly held by antiquarians, 
that, while Agricola probably drew the first line of forts 
between the Tyne and the Solway, the Wall itself was 
built by Hadrian. It is highly probable that it was after- 
wards repaired by Severus. 



" Pages 84 and 85. 
»» Page 85. 



SHRCWSBURV TO LONDON 




TIIF. SITE OF URICONIUM AT WROXETKR. SAI.OI' 



11 



THE UPPER BARRIER. 



The upper wall, or barrier constructed by Hadrian's 
successor, Antoninus Pius, was formed it is believed by 
connecting together by means of a deep fosse and an earthen- 
rampart, the forts previously erected by Agricola between 
the Forth and the Clyde. 

ROADS. 

At the period when the Roman forces finally left Britain 
there existed at the lowest computation, fifty walled towns, 
exclusive of the numerous military walled stations, with 
their attendant suburbs. The towns and stations were 
connected by excellent roads, and these were provided 
at fixed intervals with posting-stations where relays of 
horses were kept. 

Four principal lines of roads have been popularly 
known as the "four Roman ways. " In the time of Edward 
the Confessor, and probably much earlier, there were lour 
roads in England protected by the king's peace. These 
were Watling-strete the Fosse, Hickinielde-strete, and 
Ermine-strete. 

Watling street ran from London to Wroxeter; the Fosse 
from the sea coast near Seaton, in Devonshire, to Lincoln; 
the Ikinild (Hickinielde) street from Islington near Bury St. 
Edmunds in Suffolk, to Wantage in Berkshire and on to 
Cirencester and Gloucester; the Ermine street ran through 
the Fenway district of the east of England, These streets 
seem to have represented a combination of those portions 
of the Roman roads which in later times were adopted and 
kept in repair for the sake of traffic. 

The name of Watling street became attached to other 
roads, as the Roman road beyond the Northumbrian wall, 
which crossed the Tyne at Corbridge and ran to the Firth 
of Forth at Cramond, and the Roman road going beyond 
Wroxeter (Uriconium) to Leint-warden (Bravinium), Salop. 
The street in Canterbury through which the road from 
London to Dover passes and a street in London also bear 
the name. These are quite unknown to the Roman Itinera 
(a list of the marching roads in Britain supposed to have 



12 

received its name of Itinera of Antonine from the son of 
Severus, Caracalla, known as Antoninus), but are never- 
theless undoubtedly Roman roads, and were in use at an 
early period in the Roman occupation. 

There was an important road between Chester (Deva) 
and Caerleon-on-Usk (Isca Silurum), along which were forti- 
fied stations, as in later times there were castles, to guard 
against the ravages of enemies in Wales. Of the eight or 
nine stations along the road, three, namely: Uriconium, 
Magna (Kinchester) and Ariconium must have been con- 
siderable towns, judging from the size of the fortified 
enclosures and the Roman remains which have been found. 

"The method of constructing the roads," writes Mr. 
Scarth, "varies according to the character of the country 
through which they passed, and the materials at hand. 
They are raised above the surroundng surface of the land, 
and run in a straight line from station to station. A por- 
tion of the Fosse road which remains at Redstock, about 
ten miles south-west from Bath, which was opened in 
February, 1881, showed the following construction: — 

"1. Pavimentum, or foundation, fine earth hard beaten 
in. 2. Statumen, or bed of the road, composed of large 
stones, sometimes mixed with mortar. 3. Rudenatio, or 
small stones well mixed with mortar. 4. Nucleus, formed 
by mixing lime, chalk, pounded brick or tile; or gravel, 
sand and lime mixed with clay. 5. Upon this was laid 
the surface of the paved road, technically called the 'sum- 
mum dorsum. ' Other roads do not show the same elaborate 
construction, but they have resisted the wear of ages, 
and would have existed to the present time if not obliterated 
by the hand of man. Many have been destroyed in the 
present age for the sake of road material. In marshy 
lands the roads were constructed on piles; these have been 
found in the approach to Lincoln from the south. The roads 
varied in breadth, having generally a width of fifteen feet."^ 

The name of "street" (via strata), as has appeared, com- 
monly attaches to their course and this appellation con- 
tinues where the road has been entirely effaced. 

»• Page 121. 



13 



STATIONS. 



During the occupation of Britain by the Romans a 
strait named Wantsun ran between what was then the 
Isle of Thanet and the Coast of Kent. That formed the 
nearest and best channel at that time for the commercial 
trade with Gaul and Germany. At the northern mouth 
of the strait stood the fortified station of Regulbium 
(Reculver) and at its southern entrance the Roman fortress, 
Rutupise (Richborough). Other stations on the southeast 
coast of England were Portus Lemanis (Lymne) and Portus 
Dubris (Dover). The strait, Wantsun, has disappeared 
and the sea has retired far from the coast. Portions of 
the defences still remain, however. The most considerable 
are those at Richborough. Of them it may be said that 
they constitute the most considerable and perfect Roman 
fortification in England. The walls inclose a parallelogram 
of about six acres, and on three sides are in a good state 
of preservation. The north wall for a considerable stretch 
is in such perfect condition as to afford as fine a specimen 
of undisturbed Roman masonry as probably can be found 
in England. It is ten feet eight inches in thickness and 
nearly thirty feet in height. The outer facing remains and 
the binding courses of tiles are nearly in their original state. 

The fourth side of the enclosure is open to the river 
Stour, but it is believed that the sea formerly came up to 
the landing-place on that side. 

A correction must be made in a statement of Mr. C. 
Roach Smith, the principal authority in regard to the 
remains of Rutupise. He beheved that there was no wall 
on the east side of the fortifications. Traces have been 
found, since he wrote, of a return wall on that side, beyond 
the river. Passing by other stations, Anderida (Pevensey) 
should be mentioned. The walls are remarkably well 
preserved and within the enclosure is an early Norman castle. 
The Roman walls and the later castle are both impressive. 

VILLAS. 

Turning from the coast, and putting off the mention of 
towns and cities, we find numerous villas in the interior, 



14 

especially in the southern and western portions of Britain. 
These were centres of comfort, prosperity and luxury and 
often of no little cultivation. 

Mr. Scarth states that "in the immediate neighborhood 
of Bath" (Aquse Soils), "on the borders of Somerset, 
Wilts and Gloucestershire, and within a radius of five or 
six miles, thirteen or fourteen villas have been opened, 
and the pavements and other remains recorded. They 
are numerous in the more western part of Somerset, and 
especially in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Hamp- 
shire, Sussex, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, 
Kent, Essex, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire; also remains of 
villas are found in Shropshire and South Wales, but many 
that have at different periods come to light have not been 
recorded in Archaeologia"^'^ or other archaeological journals. 

One of the largest villas yet opened is at Woodchester 
in Gloucestershire, and in it was found the finest pavement 
yet discovered in Britain. 

One of the most perfect villas which is also most com- 
plete in its arrangements, is at Lydney "on the western 
bank of the Severn, not far from Gloucester,"^® It is on 
the skirts of the Forest of Dean, a drive into which, by the 
late Senator Hoar and John Bellows, has been so pleasantly 
described by the latter in our Proceedings. 

The villa at Chedworth, Gloucestershire, which, as stated 
before, I visited last summer, besides having some beautiful 
pavements, and being interesting in other respects, has a 
finely preserved bath and hypocaust. 

MINING, MANUFACTURING, ETC. 

A word should be written about mining and manufac- 
tures in Roman times in Britain. There are numerous 
indications that iron was produced in quantities. Beds 
of scoriae and cinders are found in Hertfordshire, Mon- 
mouthshire and Gloucestershire. We find, too, hand bloom- 
eries, with ore imperfectly smelted. The beds of cinders are 
in some cases from twelve to twenty feet in thickness. Hills 



" Pages 161 and 162. 
2» Page 163. 



15 

appear that have been mined for iron ore. In speaking 
of the scale of iron-working in the Forest of Dean, our 
late associate, John Bellows, told us that it was so great 
that with the imperfect method of smelting, with Catalan 
furnaces, etc., used by the Romans, so much metal was 
left in the cinder "that it has been sought after all the 
way down to within the present generation as a source of 
profit; and in the time of Edward I., one-fourth of the 
king's revenue from the Forest was derived from the re- 
smelted Roman refuse."^ 

The workings of lead, tin and copper were equally exten- 
sive with those of iron. Pottery kilns have been discovered 
in the New Forest in Hampshire, in Somersetshire, Wor- 
cestershire, Northamptonshire and Essex. The pottery is, 
however, of a coarser kind. Castor (Durobrivse) near Peter- 
borough is best known from its manufacture of pottery. 

The so-called Samian ware, which derives its designation 
from the island whose name it bears, while made in Italy 
and Gaul, as well as on the Rhine, does not seem to have 
been manufactured in Roman Britain. It was much 
prized there, however, and native imitations of it appear 
to have been produced. "The finest examples" of the 
Samian ware "show a dense salmon coloured paste, the 
surface inside and out being covered by a thick glaze of 
rich coral red."^ 

Bricks and tiles were extensively manufactured in Roman 
Britain. So too was plain and embossed glass of every 
kind; a great variety of vessels has been discovered in 
tombs. The manufacture of articles of jet also flourished. A 
large body of designers and workmen must have been employed 
in laying mosaic floors and painting the walls of rooms. 

To say nothing of agriculture, sheep raising and kindred 
pursuits which were largely followed, mention will have 
to be made later of one or more other occupations of the 
Roman inhabitants of Britain. Large numbers of persons 
were employed in commerce, foreign and domestic, and in 
the usual avocations of town and country. 

" Proceedings of The American Antiquarian Society.N. S., Vol. XIII (April, 1899- 
April. 1900.) 

^* Short guide to the Silchester Collection. Reading, by G. E. Fox. 



16 

BUILDINGS AND WALLS. 

It seems proper here to say a word about Roman con- 
struction of the walls of buildings. Wood seems to have 
been the usual building material, excepting for public halls, 
baths and fortifications. A common mode of construction 
appears to have been to build the lower portion only of a 
house of stone and upon this sub-structure to place strong 
timbers upright and near together. The heavy covering of 
roofs made it necessary that the supports should be strong. 
The spaces between the timbers were filled with clay mixed 
with chopped straw. In describing walls used in Roman 
Britain for various purposes, Mr. G. Baldwin Brown gives 
the following list: 

"(1) The 'opus quadratum,' or construction with 
large square stones; (2) the massif of rubble concrete or 
'structura caementicia' faced with small parallel-piped 
stones with or without binding courses of brick; (3) the 
'opus testaceum' where the fabric or skin of a structure is 
of brick; (4) the plain wall of irregular stone-work with 
no special facing or technique; and finally (5) the light 
partition of wood-work and plaster."®^ 

OBJECTS FOUND. 

More articles of bronze than of iron are found in Roman 
ruins in England, the latter metal corrodes so certainly. 
Comparatively few domestic utensils appear. Numerous 
querns or hand-mills, for grinding grain into flour just 
before using the latter, are turned up. So, too, are balances 
which are like our steelyards. Two large and interesting 
collections of tools were found at Silchester. 

Surgical instruments made of bronze have been discovered. 
Great varieties of fibulae, brooches, used in fastening the 
outer garment or cloak, are found in large numbers wherever 
Romans have Uved. Quantities of finger rings of different 
shapes and sizes, some of excellent design, appear. Some 
of them have engraved stones remaining in them. Collars, 
necklaces and bracelets turn up in the excavations. Jet 



»i The Arts in early England, by G. Baldwin Brown. Vol. II, p. 3. 



17 

ornaments are especially in evidence in the museum at 
York. Long pins of metal or bone are found in immense 
numbers. Occasionally fragments of stone statuary, and 
bronze images are unearthed. 

Roman coins are found everywhere; there were native 
coins also. Money was coined in Britain before the Romans 
took possession of the island. Camulodunum and Londinium 
had the privilege of mints, and coins were struck elsewhere 
in the time of the Romans. 

MUSEUMS. 

There are many museums in England which have rich 
collections of Roman antiquities. The one in the British 
Museum is very valuable. At Shrewsbury, where, as stated 
before, there is a museum, the objects of interest dug up 
at Uriconium offer an imposing display. One of the most 
important collections is in the grounds and museum of the 
Yorkshire Philosophical Society at York. The articles 
found at Silchester have been deposited in the pubUc 
museum at Reading. There they are admirably exhibited. 
Instructive models have been provided and a guide book 
has been prepared by the leading authority on the subject, 
Mr. George E. Fox, Honorary Curator.^^ 

There is an excellent museum at Colchester and a good 
one at Cirencester, and there are many other collections 
which may be readily found by the use of a good guide 
book of Great Britain. 

WALLED TOWNS. 

Among the principal walled towns of Roman England 
were Eboracum (York), the metropolis of the north and 
one of the first, if not the first, city in the country during 
the period of greatest Roman prosperity; Lindum (Lincoln), 
which has one of the most striking of Roman remains in 
Britain, in the presence there of the Newport Arch, which 
formed the north entrance to the town through the wall; 
Camulodunum (Colchester); Londinium (London); Calleva 
Atrebatum (Silchester); Venta Belgarum (Winchester); 

" See short list of authorities at the end of the paper. 



18 

Aquse Solis (Bath); Glevum (Gloucester); Corinium (Cir- 
encester); Uriconium (Wroxeter); Deva (Chester); Isca 
Silurum (Caerleon-on-Usk) ; and Venta Silurum (Caerwent). 

The walls of Camulodunum are now under the control 
of the corporation of the city of Colchester, and Mr. Henry 
Lavcr, F. S. A., of that place has been appointed custodian 
of them. I had the pleasure of examining portions of the 
walls under his guidance. They are almost complete in 
circuit, although not so high as formerly. The casing too, 
of shaped stones and tiles on both sides is generally gone. 
Although in some places a portion remains there is usually 
found only the rubble, and mortar in which it is embedded. 
An increased thickness in the wall at one place was, it is 
likely, given to it to afford, as in other cities, a platform 
for catapults. An arched gate in the city walls remains. 
A room on the side of this shows walls in an excellent state 
of preservation. The casing exhibits alternate horizontal 
portions consisting of two feet of well-laid stones and four 
layers of tiles. The tiles, as is usual in the inner and outer 
faces of Roman walls in Britain, only extend through the 
facing. The venerable town of Colchester occupies a site 
which was not only the position of a Roman town but also 
furnished quarters for the King of the Trinobantes, 
400 B. C. There are coins belonging to the town bearing 
date of 250 B. C. 

London was not the first place in importance during 
the Roman occupation of Britain. Tacitus is said to be 
the first Roman historian to mention Londinium. He 
does not speak of it as the capital of Britain, or even as 
endowed with the privileges and rights of a colony or 
municipium. Camulodunum was a colony and Verulamium 
a municipium. 

The walls, when the Romans left the country, reached 
from Ludgate, on the west, to the Tower, on the east, about 
one mile in length, and from London Wall to the Thames, 
half a mile; at an earlier period they were more confined. 

It is unnecessary to say that the baths excavated at Aquse 
SoHs (Bath) are the most extensive and perfect yet dis- 
covered in Roman Britain, 



19 

The walls of Chester, although they contain material 
from those built earlier are not, as they now stand, of 
Roman construction. They are mediaeval. 

PLACES WHERE EXCAVATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE. 

It is evident that it is impossible to make extensive 
excavations in thickly settled places such as London, York, 
Chester, Lincoln and Colchester. Reliance has to be placed 
mainly upon observations made when trenches for sewers, 
etc., and cellars are dug. 

At Silchester and Wroxeter, however, the sites of the 
old Roman walled cities of Calleva Atrebatum and Urico- 
nium, nearly the entire area formerly occupied by them is 
vacant. 

At Caerwent (Venta Silurum) I understand that about 
three-quarters of the space within the walls is available 
for excavation. In these cities excavations of Roman 
towns have been more or less systematically conducted 
during the last fifty years. Those at Uriconium were made 
in 1859-1861 under the direction of Thomas Wright, M. A., 
F. S. A., for the Shropshire Antiquarian Society. 

The site of Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) is a portion 
of a farm on the estates of the Duke of WeUington in Hamp- 
shire. Some excavations had been made there earlier, 
but the real beginning of the exploration of the site took 
place about November, 1864, when Rev. James Gerald 
Joyce undertook its supervision, upon a plan accepted by 
the second Duke. That gentleman carried on the work 
from time to time until his death in 1878. It was then 
continued by rectors of Stratfieldsaye and Silchester and 
Mr. Hilton Price. An interval of five years followed, after 
which the work was renewed in 1890, under the auspices 
of the Society of Antiquaries, the very competent direc- 
tion of George Edward Fox, Esq., Hon. M. A., (Oxon.) , F. S. A., 
and W. H. St. John Hope, Esq., M. A., Assistant Secretary 
of the Society of Antiquaries, and the almost constant, 
immediate supervision of Mr. Mill Stephenson, an able 
antiquary and conductor of excavations. The trenching 
has been made in a most systematic manner every year 



20 

since it was resumed and the work will be finished, I under- 
stand, in about three years. 

Excavations at Venta Sihu-um (Caerwent) were begun 
in August, 1899. They are conducted by competent 
directors, under the approval of the Society of Antiquaries, 
and the discoveries made are carefully reported in succes- 
sive volumes of Archaeologia. It should be remarked that 
the excavations now making at Silchester and Caerwent 
are being conducted by gentlemen who are imbued with 
the spirit of men of science and their work is very thoroughly 
and accurately done and recorded. 

At Silchester when an insula has been excavated and plans 
and measurements have been secured the ruins are covered 
up again. Such a course is required by the contract with 
the farmer who leases the site of the city, but it is also 
important for the preservation of the remains. That 
fact is shown by the disintegration of portions left exposed 
by the late Mr. Joyce. At Uriconium considerable portions 
of ruins remain in sight and even at Caerwent many founda- 
tions can be seen. It is rendered possible in the latter case 
to allow excavated remains to lie open for a longer time than 
at Silchester because so large portions of the ground are 
owned by Lord Tredegar, who takes a great interest in the 
work, or are controlled by him and the committee in charge^ 

URICONIUM. 

The Roman remains thus far laid bare at Uriconium are 
shown clearly in Plan No. I. They consist of a fragment 
of the hasilica; a little more than half of the great baths of 
the city; the foundations of two shops; and a courtyard 
surrounded on three sides by cells, with gateways to the 
street on the fourth. This courtyard, paved with small 
bricks laid herringbone fashion, has been considered a 
market-place, but Mr. George E. Fox, whose description 
of discoveries at Uriconium I am following closely, says 
that "a portion at least may have formed a fuel store for 
the baths, as both charcoal and mineral coal were found in 
one of the compartments."^ 



M Guide to the Roman City of Uriconium by George E. Fox. pp. 9 and 10. 



21 

The fragment of the basilica is the most conspicuous 
object in the ruins. It consists of "a great mass of masonry 
of considerable length which stands high above all the rest 
of the remains. (See A. on Plan No. I.) This broken 
mass of wall formed a portion of the end of what was the 
largest building of the Roman city, viz.: the civil basilica, 
an edifice which contained both law coiuts and an exchange, 
and served also as a covered place of assembly for the 
citizens on public occasions. Of this great building (No. 
1.) nothing now remains above ground except the bulky 
fragment just mentioned. The foundations however have 
been traced in the fields to the north of it, and we know 
this much, that it was a huge hall, 229 feet long and 67 
feet wide, divided by two rows of colunms into a central 
nave with aisles on either side. Mosaic pavements adorned 
the aisles, and the nave was floored with small bricks laid 
in herringbone fashion."^ The Public Baths lay to 
the south of the basilica. Besides the rooms mentioned 
on the plan, namely, the vaulted apodyterium (undressing 
room) which was entered from the basilica or great hall 
on the north, by the doorway now represented by the 
large hole in the mass of walling at A; the tepidarium (room 
moderately warmed); the sudatoria (hot-air bath-rooms); 
the caldaria (rooms with hot-water baths) and frigidarium 
(room with cold-water bath), there were two little rooms 
(9-9)^ floored with red bricks which were probably for 
keeping the articles required during the different processes 
of bathing. 

A strigil, or curved metal instrument was used for remov- 
ing perspiration, where we use a sponge and soap. "There 
may have been a swimming bath in 10, but this part of the 
ruins is buried beneath a huge mound of earth, and little 
is known concerning it. If we add that the courtyard of 
the baths was used for various games, and that the covered 
walks (peristyles)," which surrounded the entire enclosure 
containing the baths and their accompaniments, "served for 



»* Guide, p. 4. 

"> One of the two little rooms indicated as "9-9" is numbered "5" on Plan I. 
It has been suggested that the room marked 9 in the plan may have been used for 
the closing process of rubbing the bather with oil. 



22 

exercise and conversation, we have mentioned in brief the 
chief uses of the establishment."^ 

It seems proper here to give a short account of the system 
of heating buildings among the Romans in Britain and 
for that purpose I introduce one of the descriptions of 
Mr. Fox. That system, he says, "was like one in use at 
the present day, viz; : by hot air, but was unlike our method 
which employs metal pipes through which the heated air 
passes, sunk in trenches in the floors, covered by gratings, 
or placed along the walls. Instead of this, in Roman 
times, little columns usually of brick, set very close together, 
were erected on a firm floor of cement, and on the top of 
these columns was laid another floor from five inches to one 
foot thick, so that there was a space between the two floors, 
called a hypocaust, which varied in height according to 
circumstances. In these baths at Uriconium, the little 
columns which supported the upper floor were more than 
three feet high. A small opening in the outer wall of the 
chambers allowed of the introduction of fuel, which when 
lighted and continually fed from without, filled all the space 
beneath the upper floor with flame and heat. Nor was 
this all; flue pipes communicating with this heating cham- 
ber ran up the walls, and the heat radiated from these 
pipes warmed the room. The flue pipes were sunk in the 
walls and plastered over, so that they could only be detected 
by the warmth spread around. In rooms which had to 
be extra heated the whole surface of the walls was lined by 
pipes, the heat being given out from the entire wall faces. "^^ 

It win be seen by looking at the map of Uriconium 
(Plan No. 2.) that the ruins which have been uncovered 
occupied but a small portion of the area of the site of the 
city and that they stand near the middle of it. The walls 
surrounded a pear-shaped enclosure of about 170 acres. 
Their circuit was rather more than three miles. It thus 
appears that compared with the size of other walled towns 
in Roman Britain, Uriconium was a large place. Mr. 
Scarth says the city "seems only to have been fortified with 



3" Gmde p. 6. 

" Guide, pp. 7 and 8. 



23 

an earthern rampart and ditch. "^ Mr. J. Corbet Anderson 
writes that "Hartshorne estimated the vallum to have 
once been fifteen feet in height, but a recent excavation, 
made where it is most prominent, showed it to be raised 
only nine feet above the bottom of the ditch; the fosse 
was found to be ninety-five feet wide. Examined at 
various points it has been ascertained that this wall is 
formed merely of a bank of rubble, faced outwardly with a 
mass of clay, or of small stone boulders set in clay. "^^ North- 
east of the city there was a cemetery, that bordered on the 
great Roman road, the Watling street, which entered the 
place from that direction. ''Like other Roman towns" 
in Britain, ''the area enclosed by the city wall was probably 
divided by streets into squares, much after the fashion 
of a modern American city, but of this we cannot be sure. 
It is possible the place sprung up along an ancient line 
of roadway leading to a frequented ford over the Severn, 
which river lines part of its western side. After a time 
the open town would be surrounded for defence by a ditch 
and wall.'""' 

We know nothing of the history of Uriconium, but, in 
an old Welsh poem there is a vivid description of the destruc- 
tion of a city on the Welsh border which with great likelihood 
has been identified with the place under consideration. 
The statements in the poem when compared with a pas- 
sage in the Saxon Chronicle make it not improbable that 
Uriconium was taken and demohshed by Ceawlin in the 
year 584. "The period of the poem and of the raid coincide, 
and both have to do with the same district. "^^ 

"Be this as it may, one thing is certain, that the city and 
its inhabitants perished by fire and sword. Everywhere, 
when the earth which covers its remains is turned over, 
it is found to be black from the burning, and plain traces 
of the massacre of the citizens showed themselves when the 
ruins, amongst which the visitor strays, were excavated."*^ 



s« Scarth, p. 136. 
" Anderson, p. 2. 
*o Guide, p. 11. 
« Guide, p 12. 
** Guide, p. 12. 



24 

The name of the city whether Uriconium or Viriconium, 
has been supposed to be derived from the famous hill, 
or small mountain, Wrekin, near which it lies. Mr. E. W. 
B. Nicholson, Librarian of the Bodleian Library of Oxford 
University, in a recent pamphlet, says that the name 
"'Uriconium' should be discarded altogether."*^ "The 
name Viriconium," he writes, "is Keltic with Latinized 
ending (-um for — on), and is a dog-name. It is derived 
from that of a man called Virocuo (gen. — ^kunos — konos) or 
Viroconos, meaning 'man-hound' or 'male-hound.'"^ I 
give this derivation of Mr. Nicholson without having the 
knowledge needed to weigh its correctness. 

SILCHESTER. 

The walls of Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) are about 
a mile and a half in circuit and the space within them is 
100 acres, which is a little less than two-thirds of the area of 
Pompeii. While it is a smaller place than Uriconium (Wroxe- 
ter) or Verulamium (St. Albans) it is a city of considerable 
size and compares favorably in that respect with other walled 
towns in Roman Britain. 

The walls enclose an irregular octagon whose longest 
side is towards the northeast. They are twenty-one feet 
high near the south gate and elsewhere, and in other 
places ten or fifteen feet in height. They are about ten 
feet thick. "They are," says Mr. Fox, "of the usual 
construction of Roman city walls" in England "excepting 
that the tile courses, so prominent a feature in Roman 
camps and towns, are here supplied by lines of flat stones, 
atid that the intermediate facing courses are laid here and 
there in herringbone fashion."^ As Silchester is in a 
country where stone is scarce, pieces of flint, tied together 
with mortar are largely used in the facing of the walls. 
They are lined within throughout their entire circuit by 
an earthen mound, and inside also there occur at intervals 
what look like buttresses projecting inwards. These are 



*^ Vinisius to Nigra, p. 43. 

" Ibid., prvge 10. 

*" Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Feb. 27, 1890, p. 86 or p. 87. 



25 

regarded as the foundations of towers which stood astride 
the walls. The shape of the walls was influenced by the 
fact that the city was built inside of British earthworks 
which, with a ditch in front, encircled an early camp of 
refuge. Of those pre-Roman fortifications remains are still 
visible. The irregular plans of Silchester were shared by 
Uriconium and Verulamium, but were quite unlike the 
rectangular areas within the walls of Glevum (Gloucester), 
Camulodunum (Colchester) and Lindum (Lincoln) or the 
roughly rectangular space occupied by Venta Silurum 
(Caerwent). A wide ditch, clearly traceable for most of 
the circuit completes the defence of Silchester. 

"The mural barrier is pierced by five gates, north, south, 
east and west. Two of these occur at the eastern angle 
of the city; one a mere postern, being evidently to give access 
to an amphitheatre situated about 300 feet east of the 
eastern angle of the city. This amphitheatre is formed 
of mounds of earth in the well known manner of those of 
Durnovaria (Dorchester) and Corinium (Cirencester) "*^ 
There, writes Mr. Fox, "for the townsf oiks' pleasure, bull- 
baiting and bear-baiting were exhibited, possibly theat- 
rical representations very occasionally, and yet more rarely 
combats of gladiators. "^'^ 

Silchester has sloping ground. The land is generally 
level, especially in the northern half of the site, and there 
is a broad flat ridge running from the north to the south 
gate; but on the east side of this ridge a deep valley extends 
from near the centre of the city in a south-easterly direc- 
tion, and the ground also falls away somewhat in the south- 
western part of the site."^® 

Within the ring of the walls are three fields traversed 
east and west by a comparatively modern road and the 
only buildings to be seen are the church of Silchester, the 
old Manor House, and those of a farm yard. All else is 
open and bare. 

The Roman city had streets running from north to south 
and at right angles to them from east to west. One of 

♦« Ibid. 

*' Guide, pp. 6 and 7. 

** Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Feb. 27, 1890, p. 88. 



26 

them, a main line of communication, has a perfectly straight 
course from the north to the south gate, whilst another crosses 
it at right angles. Coming from the west gate it ran past 
Insulae XI., X., IX., I., XXI., and XXVII, but a discovery 
made in 1902 suggests that it was then so deflected as to 
pass out straight through the east gate, at right angles to 
the section of the wall in which the gate is set. 

Little is known of the history of Silchester. A few facts 
can be gathered from examination of the remains. 

It is evident, for example, that the basilica and the adja- 
cent buildings were burnt down at one time and it is conjec- 
tured that this catastrophe occurred during commotions 
in the province towards the close of the third century. 

Silchester, writes Mr. Fox, "Certainly was not taken by 
the Saxons, for there are no traces of the burning and 
massacre which would have accompanied such an event. 
All that can be surmised is that it gradually perished by 
slow decay and abandonment."'*^ Such an ending makes 
the gleaning for objects of interest meagre, as things of value 
and use were carried off by inhabitants as they left the city 
or were appropriated by plunderers. In the main the 
dependence for discoveries of this kind must be upon 
rubbish pits and broken and discarded objects left behind. 
It is remarkable that so large and instructive a collection 
could be found as that on exhibition at the museum in 
Reading. It is believed that if Uriconium were to be 
systematically and extensively excavated our knowledge 
of Roman antiquities would be largely added to, since 
that place, as has been previously stated, was evidently 
destroyed suddenly and burned. 

It is an interesting fact that a portion of the entrance 
at the west gate of Silchester is blocked up, the fact indi- 
cating that at some period in its history it felt its weakness 
and thus rendered it easier to defend the city, A similar 
expedient was resorted to at Caerwent. 

The importance of Silchester as a city is attested by the 
number of roads on which it is found. "It stands at the 
point of junction of two main lines, one running up from 

*» Guide, p. 7. 



ST R £ EiT R, 



H 



o t 



U 

F oI^iR U M 

I- 
(0 



n 



n 








' 






w 






1 







• ^ 



w 



1 ^ p n 



VUMi OF BUILDINGS UNCOVERED ON THE SITE OF URICONIU.V1. 



27 

the south coast, the other coming from Londinium, passing 
through Calleva (Silchester) towards Corinium and so on 
into Wales. "^ In the Itinera of Antonine the last four 
mentioned are: Silchester to Wroxeter; Caerleon-on-Usk 
to Silchester; Caerleon-on-Usk to Silchester, by another 
route; and Silchester to Exeter. 

In every important Roman town the forum was the centre 
of life. There the events of the day and private concerns 
were discussed. The retail shop-keeper offered his goods 
for sale in the same place, frequently. Wholesale merchants 
met and transacted business. There revenues were paid 
into the treasury and justice was administered by magis- 
trates. 

Few forums have been uncovered, however. A fine 
example may be seen at Pompeii. The only one that has 
been excavated in England is the forum of Silchester. 
Taking the text of Vitruvius as om- guide, writes Mr. Joyce, 
"we are met by the very singular paradox that at Pompeii, 
where a forum of the Greek type would almost of necessity 
be the one adopted, we find a distinctly Latin one and 
contrariwise at Silchester where we should assuredly have 
looked for a purely Latin forum, we have a most marked 
and distinct example of the Greek type. At Pompeii the 
length of the area is not less than three and a half times 
its width, and a single colonnade runs the whole length 
of its sides. At Silchester, the plan, though not absolutely 
square, is very nearly so, and this square-shaped area is 
surrounded on its three exterior sides by the double ambu- 
latory."^^ 

The researches of Mr. Joyce, made in 1867 to 1873 have 
been carefully reconsidered by the gentlemen who are at 
present engaged in supervising the excavations at Silchester. 
I proceed to quote from a report of their work published 
in Archaeologia. 

"The forum proper consists of an open area about 142 
feet long from north to south, by 130 feet wide from east 
to west. On three sides, north, east, and south, this 



" Proceedinjjs of Soc ety of Antiquaries, Feb. 27. 1890, p. 86. 
" Archaeologia. Vol. XL VI.. Pt. II.. p. 350. 



28 

area is lined by ambulatories; the western side is bounded 
by the wall of the basilica, and here the ambulatory is 
wanting. Behind the ambulatories, and sheltered by 
them, lies a line of chambers, mostly rectangular in plan, 
with some amongst them notably differing from that form. 
External to all occurs another ambulatory, which surrounds 
not only the forum but the basilica and its dependencies, 
being broken, perhaps, by projections of the north and 
south ends of the latter building. Thus it will be seen 
that the various offices and chambers of the forum lie between 
two lines of ambulatories, an inner and an outer one. The 
roofs of these ambulatories were, presumably, supported by 
columns. "^^ The main entrance into the forum was a feature 
in its architecture and resembled a triumphal arch. The 
chambers on the north and east sides of the forum were 
quite possibly shops. On the south side were two apsidal 
chambers alternating with square ones. It is very prob- 
able that all these rooms were used by the governing body 
of the city as offices of some sort, or courts connected with 
the forum. The walls of the ranges of buildings on the 
three sides of the forum were of flint rubble bonded with 
brick, and varying in thickness from two feet, three inches 
to three feet, seven inches. They were quite capable of 
sustaining an upper story, as well as the heavy roof, which was 
covered either by large Roman tiles or hexagonal stone slabs. 
The basilica "lies north and south and occupies the whole 
width of the forum. Its eastern wall bounded the forum 
area; its western was lined by a range of chambers and 
halls, which were limited by the return of the outer ambula- 
tory, that here borders the great street running from the 
north to the south gate of the city. The basilica had the 
form of a long rectangular hall, 233 feet 6 inches in length 
by 58 feet in width. At each end was a semi-circular apse, 
27 feet 9 inches wide, by 18 feet 2 inches deep. The total 
internal length of the edifice amounted therefore to 269 
feet 10 inches. In the centre of the western side was an- 
other apse, 38 feet wide. "^ As stated before the basilica 



«* Ibid.. V. 53. Pt. II, p. 542. 

« Ardiaeoloaia. Vol. LIII., Pt. II, p. 549. 



29 

was burnt down. It was rebuilt, however, and, as it seems, 
on the former Hues, the original plan not having been 
departed from excepting in the interior where alterations 
were made. 

As in the case of the ranges of chambers in the forum, 
and the other important buildings in the city, the walls 
of the basilica consisted of flint rubble with binding and 
lacing courses of tiles. The interior appears to have been 
divided into a nave and aisles. "Each of the smaller apses, 
with a portion of the nave and aisles screened off in front 
of it, may have served the purpose of a court of justice; 
the central one, with a screen on the top line of its steps of 
ascent, as a Curia for the governing body of the city, and 
the space in front of it . . as a place of assembly of 
the citizens on occasions of political importance."^ 

The type of the private houses in Roman Britain was 
very different from the one which prevails in Southern 
Europe. Protection in the north had to be secured from 
damp and cold; in the south from light and heat. The 
atrium of the Pompeiian house with its open compluvium 
in the roof and cistern of water, impluvium, in the floor, 
was out of place in the cUmate of Britain. There, rooms 
had to be arranged for the cold season and numerous hypo- 
causts provided under apartments to be occupied in winter. 

Generally speaking, nothing but foundations of buildings 
are found in Silchester. These are always of rubble com- 
posed of flint and mortar. It is generally believed that 
the mortar used by the Romans in Britain became as hard 
as stone. That is so commonly the case as not to make a 
statement to that effect especially misleading. Mr. Mill 
Stephenson informed me, however, last summer that he 
finds much mortar that crumbles easily. There was cheat- 
ing in Britain when the Romans were there as certainly 
as there is to-day, everywhere. I have already described 
the character of the walls of houses as seen throughout 
Roman Britain. 

In Silchester we find the low dwarf walls of flint masonry, 
remnants of floors, a layer of clay from the falling in of the 



" Ibid,, page 553. 



30 

superstructure, (thick in the loftier rooms and thin in 
the low corridors) the latter strewn with fragments of the 
broken roofs. As the walls of the earlier houses there 
were 18 inches thick, the wooden framing must have been 
of substantial construction and formed of large timbers, 
since the door frames and their sills all formed part of it. 

"The roof coverings of the houses were of three kinds, 
viz.: — thatch, tile and stone. The stone roofing was cut 
in thin slabs, hexagonal in shape, lapping over each other 
like fishes' scales. . . . The tiles were large and flat 
with a strongly raised edge on each side. They were nailed 
close together and these raised edges were covered by semi- 
circular tiles narrower at the upper end but broadening 
towards the bottom."^ 

The houses of Silchester may generally speaking be 
divided into two classes, viz: — those with a courtyard and 
those consisting of a row of chambers lined by a corridor 
on one or both sides. To this second kind, as well as to the 
first, chambers are sometimes irregularly attached. In a 
range of chambers with corridors on both sides the former 
must have been lighted from windows placed above the 
latter. "The height of the windows from the floor was 
no disadvantage," however, "as windows," at the time 
and in the place spoken of, "were only intended to trans- 
mit hght, and were not meant for looking through."^ 
Window glass was "rough like ground glass" on one side, 
"and it appears that it was cast in panes of varying size 
in moulds. . . These panes were set in frames of wood 
or metal, held in the rabbet prepared for them, by buttons. 
It is possible that they may have been occasionally puttied 
into the frames."^' 

The floors of the houses in Silchester were largely of mosaic 
or opus signmum. "There are two kinds of mosaics; the 
one, coarse and common, composed of cubes of brick or 
of a drab sandstone, and measuring a little over an inch 
square, is used for corridors and passages, or as a ground 
for panels of finer work. In the second kind the cubes 



" Guide, p. 12. 
s" Guide, p. 10. 
" Guide p. 16. 



31 

are not more than half an inch square, and are of various 
colors, black, cut from a sandstone from the south of Eng- 
land; white, from quarries of fine limestone in Gloucester- 
shire or from beds of the hard chalk in the Isle of Pui'beck; 
grey, produced from the white by the action of fire; a deep 
orange also from a sandstone; a pale yellow and two shades 
of red from brick. The only marble used is the Purbeck, 
and it may here be observed that no Roman mosaics" in 
Britain, "with rare exceptions, contain material drawn 
from any foreign source. "^^ Should it be noticed that the 
pavements in Britain do not show quite the same elegance 
as the best in the south of Europe, the fact may probably 
be largely accounted for by the consideration that the 
coarser materials of the British mosaics did not permit of 
the same nicety of workmanship which is possible in marble. 

In a few cases an imitation of the kind of pavement 
known as opus sectile has been found in Silchester in which 
tiles are used in place of cut stones, and spaces between 
have been filled with cubes after the manner of opus tessel- 
latum. "The construction of the tessellated pavements 
followed a scarcely varying rule. ... On the earth 
was laid a bed of coarse gravelly mortar, 4 to 5 inches 
thick, and upon this a layer of fine opus signinum, of the 
kind made of lime cement colored with pounded brick, 
the tessarae of the floors being inserted in this second layer. "^^ 
A thin fluid cement was run into the joints of the tessarae 
before the final polishing took place. 

"Opus signinum, or the variety of it used for pavements 
has scarcely attracted," it has been said, "the attention it 
deserves. Floors of this material, composed of small 
pieces of brick, together with tiny fragments of volcanic 
ash, the whole bound by a lime cement, are of as common, 
if not commoner, occurrence in Pompeii than those com- 
posed of tessellated work. Nor are they confined to the 
meaner rooms of the houses there; very frequently the 
composition named forms a ground in which are bedded 
lines of white marble tessarae arranged in elaborate geomet- 



" Guide, pp. 12 and 13. 

" Archaeologia, Vol. LII.. Pt. II, p. 736. 



32 

rical patterns. The more usual method, however, when 
it was intended to enrich such a floor was to embed in it, 
in quite irregular fashion, any small fragments of the much 
prized varieties of marbles or rare alabasters. Pieces of 
pavements of the rarer opus sectile are thus used up again, 
the broken fragments of the flat tile-like hexagons, circles 
and squares, of which they were composed, being embedded 
in the mass of the floor. "^^ 

There was very little architectural adornment in the 
houses of Silchester. "Here and there a large hall was 
divided by a couple of columns, or columns supported 
the entrance of apses. They were employed to give dignity 
to the entrance of the house from the street. In houses 
of the full courtyard type, where the courtyard is surrounded 
by corridors on all sides, the corridor roofs may have been 
supported by small columns standing on a dwarf wall, 
giving the enclosure almost the look of a mediaeval cloister. 
But the glory of the houses was in their profuse 
colouring. "^^ From fragments of wall plasters of rooms 
turned up in different places it appears that the principal 
ornamentation of the walls consisted of simple panelled 
work "formed of lines in different colours on variously 
coloured grounds ;"^^ prevailing tints were reds and yellows 
derived from the ochres. 

The dividing lines between the panels not infrequently 
had ornamentation of various kinds. Decoration was 
not confined, however, to mere lines of one colour on another 
coloured ground. In one house, for instance, where painted 
ornamental forms were found, there were traces of "golden- 
coloured draperies and imitations of yellow and grey mar- 
bles, no doubt suggested by the marble wall linings of 
important buildings. "^^ Architectural forms and floral and^ 
other ornaments were pictured on the walls. "It is worth 
noting . . the use made of ears of barley, which the 
sight of the harvest fields round the Roman city suggested to 
the painter. Not only are ears of barley represented, but 

"> Archaeologia. Vol. LII.. Pt. II. p. 749. 
« Guide, pp. 11 and 1% 
«2 Archaenlogia, Vol. LII., Pt. II, p. 739. 
M Archaeoloffia, Vol. IJI., Pt. II., p. 739. 



33 

also the flowers so often found growing among the corn, 
the corn-cockle, if, indeed, the dull blue quatre-foil placed 
above the grey circle and repeated below it may be taken 
for this flower. As the painters of southern Europe drew 
their decorative forms from the flora around them, from 
the vine, the myrtle, and the acanthus, so also did the 
artists"^* of the northern island of Britain. "Likewise to 
be noted is the strong similarity in the technical methods 
practised in Silchester and in Italy. After the walls had 
received the finishing coat of plaster, the setting-out Hnes 
of the decoration were drawn upon the surface of the wall 
with some sharp instrument, probably a stylus. The 
ground colours were then appUed, and the incised lines 
showing through them served as guides for the application 
of the ornamentation." As the incised lines are found 
"filled by the ground colour, they must have been incised 
in the plaster surface before it received any colouring. 
This process appears to have been used in decorative 
painting in Pompeii. "^^ 

The rooms in the better class of houses in Silchester, 
with floors of mosaic or opus signinum and walls bright 
with colour and attractive through other decoration, must 
have been cheerful abodes. From all that we know, we 
cannot but believe the homes of the Romans in Britain 
were centres of culture and refinement. Although examples 
of the fine arts found in Silchester and elsewhere are not 
indicative of the highest attainments in such directions, 
they show taste and knowledge. 

The houses are very generally placed along the streets 
inclosing insulse, or blocks. Sometimes they stand at an 
angle to the streets. The insulse in a few cases are sur- 
rounded by walls. In the spaces between the houses are 
found a number of wells and numerous rubbish pits. A 
portion of these are latrines. It is in the pits that most 
of the smaller objects discovered at Silchester are found. 
The water supply of the city came from the wells. The 
water does not lie anywhere at a greater depth than eighteen 



" Archaeologia, Vol. LV., Pt. 1. p. 249 or 250. 
" Archaeology, Vol. LV., Pt. I, p. 249 or 250. 



34 

or twenty feet. The wells, it thus appears, were shallow. 
They "are sunk through a thick bed of gravel into a layer 
of sand which underlies it and rests in turn upon a bed of 
clay. To hinder the sand from collapsing it was found 
necessary to line that portion of the well with wood."^^ 
Wliere the stratum is thin, a framing of three or four courses 
sufficed, but for a greater thickness, one barrel, and some- 
times a second was lowered into the well, or the wooden 
framing was carried up higher, and thus formed a reservoir 
into which the sand-filtered water rose. . . The barrels 
as shown by the bung and vent-peg holes have certainly 
been used for some other purpose before being sunk in the 
wells, probably for storing oil or wine, for their length 
and size preclude the possibility of their having been trans- 
ported full of liquid."^'' "The mouths of the wells were 
probably covered by wooden platforms with a hole for the 
passage of the bucket, and no doubt above it the necessary 
windlass. In one case at least a stone platform was found. 
The buckets (wooden) were extremely small. They appear 
to us like toys, but so many remains of them have been 
found in the wells that there can be no doubt of their use. "^^ 
A rare example of a Roman force pump was found in a 
well in a garden of one of the largest houses. 

"The Callevans were well provided as regards food sup- 
ply with oxen and sheep. The pig was also to be found 
but less commonty. Of birds little can be said. . 
Of other animals the horse is scantily represented; the 
skulls of dogs are constantly found, of various breeds and 
sizes, and some skulls of the common cat have been brought 
up from the pits. All the animals were much smaller 
than those of the present day. "^^ Human remains are 
"scanty in the extreme."'^*' 

In regard to the preparation of food, "a large iron grid 
for grilling meat, with a ring in the middle to hold a vessel 
for warming soup or gravy" has been dug up, "but beyond 



«» Guide, p. 13. 

»' Archaeologia. Vol. LVI.. Pt. I, p. 123 or 124. 

•» Guide, p. 14. 

<"> Guide, p. 14. 

"> Guide, p. 15. 



35 

this we find but few other indications of the culinary art. 
This however is not the case as regards cereals for food, 
wheat, barley, oats, etc. . . The flat querns consisting 
of two discs of stone, the lower convex on its upper surface, 
the upper concave on its lower surface, and neither of them 
of any great thickness, are" as stated before "to be found 
everywhere where Roman remains are discovered . 
No ovens of the Roman period are known, at least none 
have been discovered in Britain, We are therefore driven 
to suppose that if anything in the shape of bread was eaten 
by the inhabitants, it may have resembled the girdle cake 
of Scotland or the cakes may have been baked in an iron 
portable oven beneath hot ashes. "^^ 

"As to artificial lighting, there was no public lighting. 
The illuminant used was probably tallow or wax instead of 
oil. Ohve oil in the Roman period must have been a some- 
what costly import, and the extreme scarcit)'' of the remains 
of oil lamps upon the site and in Britain generally favours 
the view that candles of the substance named were used in 
place of it. Candlesticks are constantly found, more espe- 
cially of terra cotta."''^ Some of the few lamps found are 
of small size. "It is quite possible that such lamps were 
attached to the domestic shrines and lit on special occasions 
before the household gods."^^ 

Mr. Fox believes that Silchester had its special trade. 
Over all the north west side of the city, he says, dyeing 
was carried on. Traces of the furnaces of the dye vats 
appear. "Over them buildings of a temporary character 
must have been erected . . Besides the dyers' furnaces 
traces of their ware-houses have been uncovered, lining the 
road from the west gate towards the Forum. It seems 
possible that the trade was a late introduction into the town, 
and that private houses may have stood where the dyers 
afterwards had the ground to themselves."^* 

It may properly be remarked here that in examining 
the foundations of houses unearthed at Silchester it becomes 



" Guide, pp. 15 and 16. 
'* Guide, p. 1 6. 
'» Guide, p. 16. 
'* Guide, p. 17. 



36 

evident that extensive changes were made from time to 
time in those structures. 

"Two other industries," says Mr. Fox, "if such they can 
be called, have left a trace behind them — that of carving 
in bone and of extracting silver from copper. "^^ 

Among the structures early laid bare in Silchester was 
a large building, spoken of at first as cavalry barracks, 
but now regarded as the remains of an inn (hospitium). 
Attached to it were baths. The excavators were reluct- 
ant to pronounce these, or other baths found, as the prin- 
cipal establishment for bathing in so large a city as Silchester. 
In 1903 they discovered what they believe to be that 
establishment, in Insula XXXIII, which adjoins Insula VIII, 
where the remains of the hospitium and annexed baths 
are to be found. 

In an insula to the south of the Forum area is an inter- 
esting building which is regarded as a temple. The founda- 
tions consist of two concentric rings or footings of slatey 
stone. On these were built walls forming a sixteen-sided 
polygon. While the inner waU showed sixteen faces cor- 
responding with those of the outer wall on the outside it 
was circular within. The diameter of the internal ring is 
35 feet 7 inches. The width between the two rings is 9 
feet 6 inches. The length of each side of the polygon 
measured, on the external faces of the outer ring, 12 feet 
8 inches. The total diameter of the temple is about 65 
feet.^^ "In all probabiUty, " says Mr. Hilton Price, "this was 
an open building, as no remains of roofing slabs have been 
discovered. "^^ An ambulatory ran around the outside of the 
building. To what god was this structure dedicated? There 
is nothing to help us solve the question. The late Mr. James 
Fergusson considered it to have been a Serapeum.''^ 
Mr. Price says that " taking into consideration its circular 
form, it may be open to supposition that the goddess Vesta 
might have been worshipped there. "^^ There is however 



'6 Guide, p. 17. 

'« Archaeologia, Vol. LIV., Pt. I, p. 75. 

" Archaeologia. Vol. L.. Pt. II, p. 267 or 268. 

" Archaeologia, Vol. L, Pt. II. p. 267 or 268. 

" Archaeologia. Vol. L.. Pt. II, p. 267 or 268. 



37 

a conjecture which is more of a favorite. "The building 
stands in an important position, with ample space about 
it and its great ring of 32 columns must have had an impos- 
ing effect. We know from the well-known inscription 
found at Silchester in 1745, that there was a local deity, 
identified with Hercules, who was worshipped" in that 
city. "Perhaps we may venture on a conjecture that his 
temple has been found and that here was the shrine of the 
Segontian god."^° 

Near the eastern gate of the city are two rectangular 
buildings separated by a distance of about 50 feet. Those, 
it is thought, were probably "temples, as buildings have 
been found in Gaul of similar or nearly similar plan un- 
doubtedly devoted to the service of the gods."^^ 

In finishing the account of excavations at Silchester, 
mention must be made of the remains of a building found 
in the southeastern corner of the area in which the forum 
and basilica stood. There were found the foundations of 
what is beUeved to have been a small Christian church. 
"The building stood east and west, and consisted of a 
central portion" (nave) "29^ feet long and 10 feet wide, 
with a semi-circular apse at the west end. North and south 
of this were two narrow aisles, only five feet wide, terminat- 
ing westward in somewhat wider chambers or quasi-tran- 
septs; the northern of these was the chamber first discovered, 
and was cut off from the aisle by a thin partition wall. 
The eastern end of the building was covered by a porch" 
(narthax) "24 feet 3 inches long and 6 feet 9 inches deep, 
extending the whole width of the three main divisions. 
The total external length was exactly 42 feet. The walls 
average two feet in thickness, and were built of flint rubble 
with tile quoins. "^^ The building was "orientated with 
its apse towards the west. The floor was laid with a pave- 
ment of red tile tesserae about an inch square, but in the 
centre of the apse was a square space in which was a mosaic 
pattern, the date of which, from a comparison with other 



»• Archaeologia, Vol. LIV., Pt. I. p. 209. 

" Arcfiaeologia, Vol. LII., Pt. II. p. 747. 

»» Archaeologia, Vol. LIII.. Pt. II, p. 563. 



Roman mosaics, is estimated in the report in Archaeologia'^ 
(Vol. LIII, p. 563) "as the fourth century A. D."^^ Over 
the mosaic altar, at first a wooden table, probably, was 
placed. "The celebrant stood during mass behind the 
altar, and facing eastwards, this eastern position being the 
essential thing, and not the position of the altar within 
a building. The clergy were arranged in a semi-circle 
round the apse behind the celebrant, and the deacons 
stood in front and on either side. The chorus of singers occu- 
pied the western part of the nave."^ 

Before writing this paper I collected material for treating 
the subject of religion in Roman Britain, with especial 
reference to the existence there of Christianity. The 
paper is long enough already, however, and the contem- 
plated treatment of that subject must be deferred. Prob- 
ably it is better that it should be, as it would seem well 
to join with it a consideration of the state of Christianity 
among the Britains after the Romans left the country 
and among their conquerors before the coming of Augus- 
tine, I also had it in mind to present such evidence as 
exists regarding the Romanization of the Britains by the 
Romans during their occupation of the country and regard- 
ing the influence of the latter upon the Anglo Saxons and 
later occupants of the country. These purposes also must 
be put off, but, meantime, it may be said that enough is 
known to make the statement of the late Mr. Edward A. 
Freeman in regard to the insignificance of Roman influence 
upon the successors of the Romans in Britain appear very 
extravagant. 

It was necessary in writing of the subject of this essay 
to give a considerable amount of preliminary and somewhat 
elementary information. While trying to bring this up 
to date I have dehberately made great omissions and have 
treated such subjects as have been touched upon only in 
outline. The essay is in fact httle more than a mosaic of 
descriptions from authorities; its merit consists mainly 
in condensation, selection and arrangement by a person 



•a The Arts of Early England, v. 2, pp.-ll and 12. 
«* Archaeologia, Vol. LIII., Pt. IT. p. 566. 



39 

who had made a somewhat thorough study of the general 
subject of Roman antiquities in Britain and its Hterature. 
Attached to the paper is a short bibliography, which will 
enable the inquirer to study Roman antiquities in England 
thoroughly and in detail. The subject is interesting and 
important. 

The value which the Romans placed upon the possession 
of Britain is shown by the strenuous efforts which they 
made to get the country into their hands and maintain 
their position there. Distinguished generals such as Aulus 
Plautius, Suetonius, Paulinus and Theodosius, father of 
Theodosius the Great, took part in the work. So did the 
great governor Agricola. 

To say nothing of the invasion of Britain by Julius 
Caesar before he became a sovereign, several emperors 
engaged in the work of conquest and pacification. Claudius 
began it; Severus rendered great service in the subjugation 
of the country, dying as has been already stated at York; 
and Constantius, the father, of Constantine the Great, 
helped to maintain the authority of the empire. Hadrian 
also visited Britain. It was Vespasian's distinguished 
successes in Britain which, it is said, won for him the favor 
of the Roman people and led to his being eventually clad 
in the imperial purple. His son Titus acquired fame in 
Britain before he became emperor. Finally Constantine 
the Great, it will be recalled, when his father, the Emperor 
Constantius, was in command in the country, fought 
under him in a short campaign against the Picts and 
was proclaimed emperor in its capital. Observe too, hints 
of the presence in Britain of his son the Emperor Constans. 

A SHORT WORKING LIST OF MODERN BOOKS WHICH CAN BE 
ADVANTAGEOUSLY USED IN STUDYING IN DETAIL SUBJECTS 
BRIEFLY TREATED IN THE FOREGOING PAPER. 

References are not given to authors who in the Roman 
period made allusions to Britain nor to early English writers 
such as Gildas and Bede. Nor are they made to such 
inquirers as Leland, Camden and Horsley, who although 
later, are still old. Pertinent extracts from all these writers 



40 

are made in more modern works and sufficiently considered 
there to meet the demands of inquirers who are not speciaUsts. 
Reference may be made, if desired, to: 
Notitia dignitatum omnium, tam civilium quam mili- 
tarium, Imperii Romani, ex nova recens. P. Libbe. Vene- 
tiis, 1729, fo. (containing with other information what 
might be called The Army list of the Roman Empire). 

Burton, Wilham. A commentary on Antoninus, his Itin- 
erary, or journies of the Roman empire, so far as it con- 
cerneth Britain, London, 1658. 

Monumenta Historica Britannica, published by the Record 
Commission, in 1848. 

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinum, published by the Royal 
Academy of Berlin, Vol. 7. Other inscriptions found in 
Britain are published by the same society in its 
Additamenta. 

The chief sources of information are the Archaeological 
journals: namely. 

The Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 
1st series, 50 volumes; 2d series, 11 volumes; volumes giving 
accounts of places visited by the Society. 

The Archseological Journal (organ of the Royal Archae- 
ological Institute of great Britain and Ireland), 62 vols., 
and volumes describing places visited by the Society. 

Archaeologia (organ of the Society of Antiquaries of 
London), 59 volumes. 

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London. 
(Archaeologia contains detailed reports of the work of Mr. 
Joyce and others at Silchester and the official annual reports 
of the investigations now making at that place and at Caer- 
went. It also contains long papers suggested by the exca- 
vations at Silchester). 

Proceedings of the British Academy for the promotion of 
historical, philosophical and philological studies, now in 
its second volume. 

Proceedings and other publications of local historical 
and archaeological societies. For mention of these societies, 
see The Year-book of the scientific and learned societies of 
Great Britain and Ireland of which the 22d annual issue 



41 

was published in 1905 by Charles Griffin & Co., Limited, 
London. 

One or two articles in the archaeological journals which 
it seems well to refer to are : 

Guest, Edwin. The Four Roman Ways, Archaeological 
Journal, v. 14, p. 99 et seq.; 

Watkin, W. Thompson. Roman Forces in Britain, a 
paper read to the London and Middlesex Archaeological 
Society, 1873. Also supplement in v. 5. 

An interesting and comprehensive summary of Roman 
history and antiquities in Britain and one which I have 
used extensively in writing my paper is: 

Scarth, Rev. H. M., M. A., Roman Britain. London, 
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 

Other good historical summaries are: 

Elton, Charles Isaac. Origins of English History. Lon- 
don, 1882, and the chapters on Roman History in Britain 
in Hodgkin; Thomas. The History of England from the 
Earhest Times to the Norman Conquest. London, 1906. 

I make no mention of standard histories, such as that 
of Mommsen. I call attention to the following books: 

Bruce, J. Collingwood, The Roman Wall. 3d edition. 
London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1867. 

Smith, Charles Roach. The Antiquities of Richborough, 
Reculver and Lymne in Kent. London, 1850. A very 
good little pamphlet called, A Short Account of the Records 
of Richborough, by W. D: Morgate, Keble's Gazette office, 
is sold at Richborough. I mention this fact as it is hard 
to get Mr. Smith's book. 

There is an article on The Roman Coast Fortresses of 
Kent in the Archaeological Journal of December, 1896. 

There are interesting illustrations of the walls at Peven- 
sey (Anderida) in the Builder of Dec. 16, 1905. 

Mr. Smith is an authority on Roman London, also. 

The pamphlet on the Roman Villa of Chedworth, which also 
contains a catalogue of the contents of the museum, and 
which is sold at the ruins, is by Professor Buckman and 
Robert W. Hall and was printed in Cirencester by W. C. 
Coles, Steam Press, St. John Street. 



42 

The Roman remains of the villa in Lydney Park are 
described by C. W. King. 

MacCaul, Rev. J. Britanno-Roman inscriptions, with 
critical notes. Toronto, 1863. 

Kenrick. Historical Notes of the 9th and 6th Legions, 
York, 1867. 

Watkin, W. T. Roman Lancashire, 1883. 

Buckman, James, and Newmarch, C. H. Illustrations of 
the remains of Roman art in Cirencester, the site of ancient 
Corinium. London, 1850. 

Wellbeloved, Charles. Eboracum or York under the 
Romans. York, 1842. 

A hand-book of the Antiquities in the grounds and 
museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. Eighth 
edition. York : John Sampson, PubHsher, Coney Street, 1891. 
That is a very useful publication. 

Wright, Thomas. Uriconium, London, 1872. 
• Anderson, J. Corbet. The Roman City of Uriconium. 
London: J. Russell Smith, Soho Square, 1867. 

Fox, George E. A guide to the Roman city of Urico- 
nium at Wroxeter, Shropshire, Shrewsbury : Published for 
the Shropshire Archaeological Society, and printed by 
Adnitt and Naunton, The Square, 1901. 

That is a pamphlet sold at the ruins and is an admirable 
epitome by a scholar of unquestioned knowledge. I have 
used it, and anything else, which I know to be by Mr. Fox, 
largely, in preparing the foregoing paper. It is illustrated 
by a plan and map. 

A similar epitome by Mr. Fox may be found for Silchester 
in a Short Guide to the Silchester Collection, second edi- 
tion, which is sold at the Reading Public Museum. This 
also contains an admirable , annotated catalogue of the 
collection, by Mr. Fox. 

S. Victor ^^^lite & Co., Balgrave St., Reading, have pub- 
lished a long list of photographic views of Silchester. They 
also sell lantern slides of the views. They claim to take a new 
series of photographs every year under the direction of the 
Society of Antiquaries. I have no doubt that the claim 
is warranted for copies of the list were given to me at the 




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'^Lil;)/•■<3£Jf"-:^-'"^■T-' •J.'*^- .^' '^- •t.^.g^ ^._. A? ,.->,', ,«, 



43 

ruins and the pictures were spoken of highly by Mr. Fox 
and Mr. Stephenson., 

As may have been surmised before, the principal source of 
information about Silchester (and the same may be said 
of Caerwent) is the reports and articles in Archaeologia. 



i i;-' P 



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020 946 775 6 



